COSTA RICA

05/01/2012

Our morning started out a little earlier than normal. Because we were going to have a tender, we had to be at the lounge to wait for our tour to be called at 6:55am! So we decided to have room service bring breakfast. We put the paper on the door last night and wrote in the time of 5:45am if possible instead of 6am to 6:30am that was listed. Seems like the kitchen staff forgot to change the clocks last night because they were knocking at our door at 5:00am!! The alarm was set for 5:30a!! So we had an early breakfast and then headed to the lounge. Getting on the tender boats was not an easy task! The swells were so high that it took forever to get people on. The boat would go up and down 5 ft at times and people were scared to get on. We were leaving the ship at least an hour behind schedule. After our tender left, the captain moved the ship up by a jetty to keep it from being so bad. It was easier coming back but still very crazy!! After we finally got ashore we headed to our nice big air conditioned bus to take us to our Tropical Train Ride. Of course it had no air but the windows were open and the breeze was nice. The train ride let us see the areas of Costa Rica seldom seen by tourists. It is Labor Day here and the kids were out of school, so you would see them in their yards, sometimes right by the tracks, waving at us. We saw cantaloupe fields, mango trees and cashew trees. It was a pleasant ride and very scenic. When we got off the train we got back on the tour bus and took some dirt roads riddled with potholes to the area to take the Exotic Mangrove Cruise. They had beer, ice tea, pineapple, bananas and watermelon there for us to enjoy before the cruise. There was a small shopping area there where we picked up a couple souvenirs. The boat ride started out with us spotting an iguana then a juvenile heron. A raccoon was also spotted but I couldn’t see him. There was a squirrel seen before we came upon a crocodile! It swam along for while before going back under. When we headed back in we saw another one. They both stayed up for a long time. Everyone was able to get very good pictures. We were also lucky enough to see some macaws. They make a lot of racket, but what a beautiful bird! Our guide, Umberto, was awesome!! He is a hairdresser when not guiding tours! Had a wonderful sense of humor and kept us entertained the whole time. Our bus driver was superb! There were some very narrow bridges we crossed, one was named “Oh my god’ bridge, and I can see why it got that name!! He was a very good driver and we trusted him to get us around safely. Upon arriving back at the dock, we walked around the 15 or so vendor booths that we just set up as small tents, then got in line to take a tender back to the ship. One of those tropical storms hit after right after we got back on the ship! Now it is cloudy as the Westerdam pulls anchor and we head for Corinto, Nicaragua.
We were in this car behind the engine